324 ALEXANDEK VON HUMJBOLDT. 



mines of Grualgayoc, yielding sulphuret of silver and copper, at 

 an elevation of 13,550 feet : their yearly produce is valued at a 

 million piastres. We descended to Truxillo, by Caxamarca, 

 where I made drawings of the Peruvian arches in the Palace of 

 Atahualpa, and thence crossed the desert plains on the coast of 

 the Pacific Ocean to Lima a place which for six months in 

 the year is overhung with dense vapours.' . . . 



At the conclusion of this very long letter he writes : ' I am 

 full of anxiety about my manuscripts, considering how to pre- 

 serve them in safety and secure their publication. I trust I 

 shall greet you in Paris some time during the months of Sep- 

 tember or October of 1803. How I long to be once more in 

 Paris ! ' 



The latter part of this journey that is to say, his route from 

 the Amazon to the coast across the Andes, has been described 

 by Humboldt in a short treatise, entitled : ' The Plateau of 

 Caxamarca, the Ancient Capital of the Inca Atahualpa ; first 

 View of the Pacific Ocean from the Crest of the Andes.' 1 In 

 ancient Caxamarca were enacted the bloodiest scenes of the 

 Spanish Conquest. Beneath the ruins of the citadel and the 

 ancient palace of Atahualpa the room is still to be seen, upon 

 the wall of which is shown the mark indicating the height to 

 which the Inca engaged to fill his prison with gold, on condi- 

 tion of being set free. 



In agreeable contrast with the gloomy associations of this 

 place was the grand prospect Humboldt first obtained here of 

 the Pacific Ocean a moment for which he had so ardently 

 longed. To one who was so deeply indebted to a fellow-voyager 

 of Captain Cook, both for the development of his mind and the 

 formation of his tastes, there was something in this sight pecu- 

 liarly impressive. ' To George Forster I had early communi- 

 cated, in general outline, my schemes for travel, when privi- 

 leged under his auspices to visit England for the first time. 

 The charming description of Otaheite given by Forster had 

 awakened, especially in the North of Europe, a universal, I 

 might almost say a romantic interest in the islands of the 

 Pacific Ocean. These islands, fortunately for them, were at 



1 l Ansichten der Natur/ vol. ii. p. 315. 



